UNCW hoops is headed back to the NCAA Tournament after Monday’s win over Hofstra. (Mike Spencer/StarNews)

Three players were already on the dais Monday night when UNCW men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts climbed the stairs and draped the remnants of a freshly snipped net over the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship trophy.

To his left, Craig Ponder – the fifth-year senior who not long ago was buried on the bench for a 23-loss squad – finished answering a question. Denzel Ingram and Chris Flemmings had seats, too. One is a transfer from Charlotte who picked the Seahawks to launch his second chance, the other a former Division II star who persuaded the staff to give him a roster spot but not a scholarship.

“I’m so proud of these guys and the other guys on the team and what we’ve accomplished,” Keatts soon said. “It means so much to me. My satisfaction is being able to see these guys prosper.”

The scene illustrated plenty about UNCW’s path to this unlikely turnaround.

Keatts sold the vision realized Monday time and again in rapidly revamping the roster. Ten of his 14 players on the bench at Royal Farms Arena were handpicked additions by the coach. It’s worth noting that every one of them had joined or committed to the Seahawks by the time they made their unexpected run to the 2014-2015 regular season title.

Keatts cobbled his masterpiece with a plan in mind but a loose one. The former Louisville asistant wanted to collect as much talent as possible and worry about how to fit the puzzle together later. He found his new pieces in the college, prep school and high school ranks.

His enthusiasm for the rebuild and fun-to-play brand of basketball helped win a few key recruiting battles. A couple others essentially convinced him how they could help. Spare parts became useful again. Everybody believed success would come sooner than later.

“It’s exactly what he said,” Ingram said on the court in between pictures with the trophy. “He said we were going to win championships, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Keatts believed this group was better than its sixth-place preseason ranking but maybe a year away from this kind of success. The coach had seen enough of his players – including seven new additions – to be confident in that. Somewhere along the program-record 11-game winning streak in the middle of CAA play he became more certain they were NCAA Tournament caliber.

“I lost track of how many games we’d won in a row,” Keatts said. “That’s when you know you’re playing good basketball.”

UNCW still had work to do in Baltimore to make it reality. More than once along the way, Keatts said he felt his club was built for tournament play. The Seahawks backed up that claim with three wins in as many days, their versatility and depth making a difference.

UNCW had to go down to the wire three times in very different ways to win the championship. The Seahawks overcame a lackluster start Saturday against College of Charleston and snuffed out two chances to tie in the final seconds for a 66-64 victory. They seemed in control until they weren’t against Northeastern but managed to hold off a late flurry to win, 73-70.

Monday’s final against the top-seeded Pride fittingly required another double-digit second half comeback and then overtime.

UNCW didn’t need a starring individual effort in the extra period to come out on top. Instead, it kept running good offense and summoned its best defense at the right time. All 12 points were scored by newcomers, including the seven straight to end it and clinch the automatic NCAA bid.

The Seahawks bounced near midcourt after the final buzzer, joined by fans who had waited a decade to celebrate like that again.

It was a satisfying moment for players who got in on the ground floor of an astonishing turnaround but certainly not unexpected by this point. Their faith in Keatts — and his in them — was rewarded again.

“He said he was going to bring us back to the top,” said Marcus Bryan, the other Charlotte transfer. “In our minds, we were supposed to be there. We just proved ourselves right.”